For high school students, AP exam season is already one of the most stressful times of the year. This year’s new exam attendance policy only added to the pressure.
AP exams ran from May 5 to May 23. Unlike in previous years, students who were testing on a particular day were still required to arrive at school by the regular start time of 7:45 a.m.. The school operated on alternating A/B schedules: A days consisted of first and second periods, while B days included third and fourth periods, each lasting 95 minutes.
After lunch, all students except those who have afternoon exams attended sixth, seventh, and eighth periods daily. Those who missed class time due to their exam were excused only for the duration of the test, and were required to attend all remaining classes.”We send attendants to the office and students are excused from those classes. But, if you have an afternoon exam, you are not excused for the morning,” Assistant Principal David O’Shell said.
This is a significant change from last year’s policy. Previously, students were allowed to arrive late or leave early depending on their exam schedule. On testing days, students who were not taking an exam did not need to arrive until 11:30 a.m., and class periods were rotated to minimize disruptions. Students were also excused from all classes on the day of their exam.
This new policy was put in place because last year, too many people were leaving when their AP exam was done because they were excused, but the administration is responsible for students while in school, and they didn’t know where students were going. “The problem with the schedule last year is that we have to mark attendance for all students, we are responsible for students’ whereabouts and where they go, and if students are going to leave early, they have to check out, which didn’t happen last year, so that’s the purpose of this. We conduct classes, and students attend those classes, and we can’t just say to students, well, you can just leave,” O’Shell said.
Schools are expected to have a full day of school so administrators had to change the schedule. “Schools aren’t supposed to say, well, we have a half day today, but then other schools in Montgomery County, they say we don’t have a half day today. It’s not really done system-wide,” O’Shell said.
Under the new policy, students were no longer excused from classes before or after their AP exams. Regardless of whether a student has a morning or afternoon exam, they are expected to attend all other scheduled classes that day. “I had AP psych in the morning and tried to go to school, but I was just so tired and stressed. I decided to stay home and study. I had to take the unexcused absence,” sophomore Lily Zaiderman said.
Last year’s schedule was designed to reduce stress and academic disruption during the testing period. In contrast, this year’s policy has left students feeling overwhelmed with a lot of classwork and testing responsibilities. Students said they felt they were falling behind and struggling to keep up. “My AP Government and Politics exam was in the afternoon, and I was so stressed about it in the morning, so my mom wrote me a pass to skip my classes. I feel like I can’t focus if all I can think about is my exam, and I want to be able to wake up later so I can feel well-rested and not tired to do my best. So it is stressful not being able to have the day off. I was able to get up, eat a good breakfast, and even study in the morning instead of being rushed to get out of the house to get to school at 7:45. I think all students would benefit from helping reduce stress,” sophomore Noa Lucas said.
